The Distance Between
by Disengage Gravity
Summary: Drabble series / One hundred moments in the lives of the man that started it all and the two boys who became friends because of his actions.
1. Life (Giotto)

If there was one point in history that could be pinpointed as what has started this (the Vongola, the Shimon, _everything_) it was the moment when Giotto had met a redheaded boy in a back alley of Venice, Italy.

It'd been the summer before the blonde had turned eight. The temperature in Venice had cooled over the week due to the wind rushing in the cold air from the ocean surface (his _padre _had been worried about a storm coming because of the sudden change in temperature) and Giotto had skipped his lessons from his tutor that day to wander around town and enjoy the weather.

He had stopped by the stall the old farmer's wife ran on market street, buying an apple to munch on during his stroll. He'd had to listen to the old woman give him a piece of her mind for skipping out on his lessons and tell him that she'd smack his behind with a wooden spoon if he didn't head right home. How everyone in the town knew what time his lessons were, was a wonder to him.

After crossing the bridge over the river that divided the town into the East and West sides (it was more than just a geological split between the two sides, the rich lived in the West and the poor in the East) he came across a sight that wasn't all this uncommon in this part of town. Some bigger kids were picking on a young boy, probably the son of a farmer judging by the state of his clothes.

Giotto had stopped and stared for a second, finishing up his apple before tossing the core to the side of the road, and then decided to take action.

Completely surprising the older kids, Giotto grabbed the boys hand and yanked him in a back alley. The action had spawned a chase that Giotto and his companion has won due to the blonde's knowledge of the area. His family had lived here before his father had started really making money as a merchant.

Giotto stumbled to a stop in the West side of the river, having crossed the bridge knowing that even if the older kids had caught up they wouldn't follow him. The blonde boy pants to catch his breath, leaning forward with his hands on his knees.

Out of the corner of his eye he catches the gaze of the boy who he'd help from where he was, collapsed on the ground from the physical exertion of running from persons much bigger than himself.

Not looking away from the other boy, Giotto straightened himself and held out his hand for a handshake, "My name is Giotto."

When the redheaded farmer's boy had taken his hand and introduced himself as Cozart, the familiar tingle of his sixth sense ran up his spine.

Years in the future, looking back on it, Giotto would think that this would be the moment that his life would really start.

* * *

**Look, a drabble series about Giotto, Tsuna, and Enma. I already have the prompts up to ten done and I'll post one or two every day or so. It depends on just how fast I write them. Any spelling mistakes are my own, I tend not to reread what I write. (It's a bad habit.)**


	2. Youth (Tsuna)

To Tsuna, his youth was something that he really didn't want to spend his time thinking about. Not when most of his time was spent running from dogs that didn't even come up to his knee, getting bullied by the neighborhood kids, and nursing bruises.

Even before starting school, Tsuna hadn't had any friends. At first it was because he'd been too stubborn to leave the safety net that was his mother and his home. Later on it would be because he was clumsy, he didn't understand some of the games the kids played, or because he was too afraid of being rebellious and foolish like the other boys.

At the end of the day he'd end up walking home by himself, his face a mess from tears and snot (and sometimes a cheek would be colored with a small bruise) and cling to his mother's skirt. The only good thing about his youth had been his mother, her warmth and comforting voice, and the feeling of happiness that she carried with her.

(Later on when Tsuna started school, he would come to appreciate some of the things his mother said less.)


	3. Content (Enma)

A certain redhead was, in one word, content with how today was going. It was a lazy summer day for Enma and with school out there was nothing much to do. In the choking heat of July he'd walked to his friend Tsuna's house and relished the air conditioning that the house provided once he'd stepped inside. If there was one thing Enma did not like about summer, it was the high temperatures.

(Tsuna was even more miserable during the summer than he was, his dying will flame keeping his temperature sky high year round. Enma felt sorry for him.)

Lounging on Tsuna's bed is where he had put himself, watching the TV screen sideways as Tsuna played some game named _Rebirth_. When at the game store with Tsuna the day he had bought the game, Enma had watched as Tsuna had pulled an expression caught between amusement and misery as he'd read the game's summary on the case.

Ironically enough, it was about a man coming to train a boy to be a mafia boss.

Enma didn't know how Tsuna could play the game with any kind of straight face.

Watching Tsuna go through a few boss battles and earn allies eventually pulls Enma into sleep, one arm hanging off the edge of the bed as he dozes.

He does undisturbed for a number of hours and is eventually joined in the bed by Tsuna, who decides to participate in the blissfulness of sleep to catch up on the hours lost while scrambling to study for the end of the year exams.

* * *

**Annnnnd here's Enma!**


	4. Change (Tsuna)

He didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before, but it had struck him in the face one day while he had been eating breakfast with his guardians (and Enma, who had the day off and apparently had nothing better to do than hang around Vongola Headquarters) and he'd nearly spit out his coffee in shock.

Sitting across from him, in plan view, was Chrome. While that was nothing knew since she usually sat there in between Ryohei and Lambo, it was who had taken Lambo's seat. Every so often would lean to his right and lean down, whispering something into Chrome's ear that would cause her to laugh. The sight in and of itself was normal. Chrome and Enma had become good friends after the battle with Daemon Spade, so the two of them hanging out on occasion wasn't abnormal.

But the smile on Chrome's face wasn't one of friendly amusement, it was something that spoke of feelings beyond that.

_When had that changed?_

(He had starred for so long that Hayato had paused in eating his breakfast to ask if he was alright, and that had earned an odd look from Yamamoto. Tsuna had stuttered out an affirmative and awkwardly finished his breakfast before leaving early.)

It was that evening when Enma had stopped by his office to drop of some paperwork in person since he was there, that he'd blurted out the question that had been bugging him all day.

Enma had stopped mid-step, surprise coloring his face, before he'd blushed and half-wheezed, half-laughed.

Minutes later the redhead had assured him that no, he and Chrome didn't have any kind of relationship beyond friends. They were just friends.

(A voice whispered in the back of his mind that wouldn't be the case for long if his Mist made a move on his friend.)


	5. Dreams (Giotto)

Ever since he had been young (and after his meeting Cozart) he'd dreamed of being a hero. Not an average everyday hero that saved cats from trees and all that. He wanted to be a crime-fighting hero. He and Cozart, surprisingly, shared the same dream. It was the passion from the older boy that drove Giotto to take his dream seriously.

However, it wasn't until he'd met a redheaded man, that had re-christened himself to G before their run-in, that he'd know how to go about becoming what he wanted to be. It was through G that he learned about just how much of Italy the mafia ran from the shadows, how many lives they'd ruined and the sheer disorder and chaos of the system.

It was right after he'd turned eighteen that he'd put his plan into motion.

G had tried talking him down him, calling him an idiot for wanting to take on the whole underworld and straighten it out. But not even G's insults and convincing arguments had stopped him from creating his vigilante group.

(It was a decision that, even after all the pain and misery it had caused him, he couldn't come to regret.)

* * *

**I have more planned for Giotto's past.**

**P.S. reviews give me motivation (and if you pitch in your ideas I'll probably end up using some of them).**


	6. Pessimistic (Enma)

Pessimistic. All of his guardians had called him it at some point. Some even continued calling him it throughout the years and even into boss-hood. But the older he got the more it confused him because he didn't think he was pessimistic.

Enma believed that he was a realist that didn't get his hopes up for any old reason. He thought that it made his judgement sounder and that his guardians should be happy that he wasn't putting stock into things too easily.

He'd brought this point up when they'd been having a conversation about the children the Shimon family had picked up. He'd told his guardians the children would ask for them when they'd be out on missions and that he'd tell them he didn't know when they'd be back. Or if they'd be back, since that depended on the difficulty and danger level of the mission.

The latter statement had earned him a sharp and vicious glare from Adelheid who, on top of once again calling him a pessimist, said he had no tact when it came to children.

(It was good thing he never told her that he'd unintentionally made some of the children cry by saying that.)

* * *

**Another one! :) There's some angst coming up, number eleven is ****_full_**** of it. **

**Thank you, those that have favorited and followed this story!**


	7. Pirates (Giotto)

The news had came to him in the middle of the night, G having woken him up at an ungodly hour of the morning to make sure he was the first to know.

Pirates had attacked a coastal town just North of Venice.

It didn't take him more than a few second to connect the dots and figure out that if they had attacked a town near here then they might head down the coast. If that was the case, then Venice would be the next town they would raid.

Giotto had not even an ounce of respect for the likes of pirates. They'd hang around outside of their target town like a bad omen before storming it and taking anything and everything they wanted. It didn't matter to them, they'd take woman, riches, whatever they could get their hands on. Sometimes they even took children to raise them to be apart of their crew in the future.

He heaved himself out of bed and proceeded to get dressed, telling G to gather his guardians in the meeting room.

If the pirates came here (which chances are they would because several well-known and wealthy merchants lived here) then the Vongola would be ready to counter the attack and turn them away right at the shores.

They wouldn't even get the chance to enter the town.

* * *

**Happy Independence Day!**

**(Your feedback and ideas will give me inspiration!)**


	8. Pressure (Enma)

It was a serious thing when another family would try to antagonize the Vongola. It became even more serious when they were starting to provoke other families to be antagonistic towards Tsuna and his famiglia.

It was this serious thing that had caused the monthly Alliance conference to be an utter mess. Everyone but a selected few (himself, Tsuna, Xanxus, Byakuran, and Tsuna's Mist and Cloud) were showing the nervousness and wearing semi-panicky looks on their faces when the news of an outright attack on Vongola Headquarters had come to the meeting through Hayato.

Fortunately, the number of casualties were only two dozen and no one had died. No one was in danger of dying from wounds, either.

It was with both the good and the bad news that Enma made the decision to leave the meeting early, sharing a look with Tsuna right as he left. No one even dared to question Tsuna on letting Enma just leave the meeting so abruptly. Probably more importantly, no one had tried to step Enma from leaving because of the dark expression on his face.

The family that had attacked the Vongola may not have attacked the Shimon and may not ever attack them, but that doesn't mean that Enma would sit back and let Tsuna handle the situation alone.

No, tonight the Shimon would show the enemy just what would happen if their allies were threatened.


	9. Doom (Tsuna)

One of the things that Tsuna had learned quickly after officially becoming Vongola Decimo was that the Varia were closely (very closely) associated with the word "doom". He hadn't quite understood what that had meant right off the rip even though he'd had enough experience with the Varia before taking the reins.

But the Varia had made sure to make them understand what that meant.

It wasn't a week into his new role as boss when he'd been flooded by all the complaints from ally and enemy mafia families about the Varia.

It had taken him forever to read them all and he didn't quite know what to think. Some were sound and complained about the Varia destroying things unnecessarily on their missions while other reports where ridiculous, saying that the Varia should be put in straight jackets and thrown into a penitentiary.

The most ridiculous once where the ones from enemy families asking for Tsuna's protection from the Varia just because the Varia had given them a look that had caused them to defecate in their pants.

It was three days of these stupid complaints later when he had finally understood the whole picture.

* * *

**I'm so sorry about the earlier version! I didn't notice it had done that (whatever _that_ was) until now! D:**


	10. Guardians (Enma)

When he was young, Enma had never been able to compare his own guardians against those belonging to another. It left him without a true understanding of what exactly his guardians were suppose to do for him and what they were suppose to mean to him.

Therefore, Enma had never properly appreciated or understand his guardians for years.

It wasn't until middle school and meeting Tsuna that he'd gotten a glimpse of the interaction between Tsuna and his guardians. The redhead would never tell his best friend that for a brief period of time he'd been jealous of him. Until he'd realized just how troublesome Tsuna's guardians were, that is.

That didn't lessen the feeling of longing for his guardians to just give a crap about him instead of pick on him just like everyone else.

(During the Arcobaleno battles he'd gotten a real glimpse of that worry from his guardians, but it was so fleeting sometimes he would wondered if he'd missed it.)

Years later, one august morning during breakfast, he had asked his guardians why exactly they were constantly so hard on him. It was with a completely straight face a lack of complete attention to his guardians that he'd asked it.

The reply was like cold water had been poured on him (A retort from Aoba, "One day we'll be dead because you weren't quick enough to protect yourself. I don't know about the others, but I pick on you to toughen you up so when we are gone you'll be strong enough to make it. I don't want you to turn out like that pansy Sawada will, should he lose his guardians.") so much so that it'd been hard to breath for a few seconds.

He'd later denied that he'd ever teared up because he'd realized how stupid he'd been, longing all those years for something that he'd always had.

* * *

**Whoooo, double update! Also important: I have another project in the works. ****_Yes_****, another project even though I haven't finished this one yet. This new one has themes from the spring anime Mekakucity Actors and I'm looking for a beta for it. So if you're interested drop me a line.**

**Come to think of it, I also need a beta for this one. A show of hands? **

**NOTE: Chapter 9 has been fixed.**


	11. Sadness (Tsuna)

A mansion that had previously been bustling with life and energy laid silent in the wake of tragedy. The souls inside gathered together under purposefully dimmed lights to mourn and remember. As if to match the emotions that were palpable in the air, a storm raged outside, rain pouring and wind banging against the windows like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum; violent and howling in agony. Lightning pierced the sky, tearing it in two for a brief moment and casting light through a dark night, deafening thunder following closely behind.

_How appropriate_, was a thought shared by many in the room.

Not many were standing there, the only handful left being those that had the intention to stand a vigil through the night.

On one side stood a man and a woman, the man with a stony expression that didn't hide how his eyes clouded every so often and the woman was the loudest in the room. Her grief stricken sobs echoed around the room, driving home how hard this was. On another side of the room stood two men, a blonde openly grieving and a man dressed black as death itself. Not even his fedora had the band of color it normally did.

At the front of the room stood six men and one woman, she too openly crying but her sobs were softened underneath her hand unlike those of the heartbroken mother.

"_Should I die…"_

No one had taken his request with seriousness at the time. Death had seemed so far away for the young man that had so much promise. His guardians had smiled at him, telling him that it wouldn't matter because he would be the last to go. That they would leave this world before him because he was theirs to protect and to guard until their bodies were broken, bleeding, and breathless.

"_I'm serious, listen to what I have to say!"_ A smile and a flash of amber eyes, eyes painted by the color of the flame the man had wielded. Eyes never to open again, closed by another who wouldn't stop until this world was gone.

The youngest standing in the front of the room burst into tears, leaning over slightly as he wiped at his eyes with his hands. He wasn't naive about death, they were in the mafia after all, but… his brother and boss had been the one person that he had thought death would never take even though that sounded ridiculous.

"_Should I die, I want you to know…"_

The source of such intense mourning was a young man, brown hair and shocking eyes that had changed through the years, in a black casket that contrasted the red, silk-lined inside and the white flowers they had filled the casket with.

He had been taken at too soon a time and too quickly. It had been a gunshot to the head, so he hadn't suffered through his death. It had been quick and probably painless.

"_...that I'll never blame you, I'll never blame anybody except for who pulled the trigger."_

The night stretched on and the minutes ticked by, making it all the more painful for everyone gathered. The only thing for them to focus on was the insurmountable sadness, a body long gone cold, and words that lingered even though the source couldn't speak them anymore.

"_If you want to dive head first in after me…"_

Minutes stretched into hours, tears drying up, replenishing, and then re-drying over and over. No one said a word, no one dared to part their lips to utter a sentence.

Some knew what they'd say should they speak and decided that the words were better left unspoken.

"_...please take your time. Don't follow me to a place where what we worked for won't make a difference. Changing the world won't matter because the world there will be one trapped in time, never changing." _

Others would just lose control, no longer able to continue being strong when the person that helped them to have strength... was gone.

A bright light in world made of darkness, extinguished.

"_I'll wait for all of you so when you pass on, we can cross over together."_

A family grieves and natures grieves with them. The night eventually comes to an end and when the morning begins the casket and the loved one inside are carried out by exhausted bodies and tired souls to be laid in the forest, where the body that had been left behind will lay.

(In time, a younger version of the deceased man will come, and he will find the strength to fix the mistakes his older self made.)

"_You and I."_

* * *

**This one is the longest one to date! And I tried a different style than what I usually write in, let me know what you think! :) Also, there are still no takers on anyone being my beta. Come on, I know you guys (and gals) are out there, don't be shy! :D**

**(Not as important, I'm looking for people that roleplay KHR on skype. I'd prefer male characters because I like my male/female ships to be platonic. Hit me up if you're interested.)**


	12. Conflict (Giotto)

Giotto had no idea that he wasn't normal, that he'd never been normal. He'd never thought to question anyone about why they never noticed some of the same things he had. (_-Farmer Antonio's wife was sleeping with the seamstress's husband she always smelled of his cologne, the bread sitting in the window of the bakery hadn't properly risen because it had been rushed, when Giotto would say "odd" things most would lie and agree that they had experienced it too._)

It had taken Giotto a few years to understand that when he talked about such "strange things" people would become annoyed. A facial twitch that occurred every so often, narrowed eyes, a steady _tap tap tap_ of the foot, arms crossed in a closed off position. It hadn't come to him immediately that he should've associated that with irritation, but he'd picked it up shortly after his mother had snapped at him on one occasion.

Her shrill, loud voice still rang in his ears on the nights that the crickets didn't chirp outside his window and the dark was plunged into silence.

"_Shut up, child! Why won't you be normal for once? No normal person would know the things that you do! I knew that we should-"_

His mother probably would've kept on her tirade if Giotto's older sister hadn't stood up to her. The resounding slap of flesh hitting flesh (_-his sister had just struck his mother and Giotto feared for his older sister because his mother could be mean if she was in one of her rare bad moods like right now-_) would join his mother's words on those silent nights and if he closed his eyes he would see his sisters long blonde hair following her sharp, sudden movement.

His sister, Emma, his beautiful sister had defended him. Emma had sent him to bed early that night and he didn't have to ask where that light bruise on his sister's cheek had come from the following morning (it matched the one on his mother's face).

A moment like that wasn't one to define his family by however. All families had their bad moments but that didn't mean that Giotto's family was a bad family. He loved them and they loved him back with the same intensity.

His mother was one of the kindest woman in town, her blonde hair and blue eyes being where Giotto got his looks from (his sister also took after their mother) and his father was a gruff and burly merchant who, although looking like he could take on almost anyone in a fight, more often then not let people pay for their goods late if they didn't have the money right away.

Giotto loved his family, he loved the way his mother smelled after having baked all day and how she would smooth his hair back away from his face and wipe the dirt from his cheeks after he'd been out and rough housing around with the other boys all day. On days like those his mother wouldn't even let him run around the house until he'd bathed and changed into clean clothes. After meeting his mother's standards of cleanliness he'd then head into the sitting room and join his sister on the couch where she'd hand sew clothes, watching her for a little while before begging her to tell him a story. (She was the best storyteller!)

(His sister would laugh at his persistence, her laugh sounding like music to Giotto's ears, and she would adopt a smile to her face. Giotto would never forget that something was off every time she smiled. It was like there was sadness weighing it down.)

(Years from Giotto would lie awake in bed and wonder why he never noticed what was wrong.)

* * *

**Look, plot! I'm going somewhere with this I swear. My internet wasn't working yesterday so I didn't get the chance to update, a fickle thing it is.**


End file.
